On This Winter's Night
by Blackberry Winter23
Summary: A winter fluff for my Chillary shippers.


On This Winter's Night

The sound of the wood crackling sure was one of Hillary's favorites. She loved everything about winter: the weather, the snow, fireplaces, sweaters, coffee, literally everything. She loved how everything seemed to be romantic and unique around these days, perfect to share with someone special. Things in her life were different, though. It was weird how many turns life could give but she was determined to make that one turn that changed everything her last turn ever.

Charles and she were together now. After years of fighting their feelings, holding them back and trying to hide them they finally gave in. It was a hard, emotional struggle but the final reward was worth every tear they shared at the moment. Leaving an entire life behind was sure not an easy job but building a brand new one was probably harder. He loved her and she loved him, that was all they knew and all they had. The rest was a mystery, something they would discover day by day and in due course. Hillary knew Charles loved to sing while taking a shower, while cooking or while exercising but still there were little things that made her feel thrilled, like knowing the way he liked his coffee or knowing the story behind a scar on his eyebrow. She loved how even though they were friends for years there were still a lot of things to learn about each other and she sure wanted to spend every moment in her life discovering them. Christmas was coming and being this the first they would share together there was something special on this winter's season, wanting to go more specific, on this winter's night.

It wasn't so late at night, maybe around eleven. Hillary was in the living room cuddled up with a blanket in the large couch that surrounded the fireplace. The only lights on were the ones in the kitchen, the room was lit mostly by the light the fireplace produced. It was a cold night; December typical. The warmth of the room was getting her sleepy. Her eyes were focused on the flames, she was stuck in the moment. She was in a point of her life where everything was perfect, everything seemed like a dream.

"Still here, babe?" A warm kiss on her cheek shook her off her thoughts. Even though, it was a beautiful feelings to see the dream could still go on.

"Back now" She had a lazy smile drawn on her face; Charles smiled back at her and cuddled at her side, taking a side of the blanket for himself. She locked her left arm with his right arm and rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Charlie boy"

"Well, I love you too Hills" He laughed a little causing her to laugh too, "You're lovely when you're all relaxed and distracted"

"Hey!" She hit his chest playfully and laughed louder, "So I can only love you when I'm all relaxed and distracted?" She made emphasis in that last quote, trying to imitate his voice.

"I'm just saying it's sweeter when you're not in your full five senses"

"Whatever"

"You're gonna get mad at me?"

"Nope, I'll probably just pull the blanket back to me and let you freeze" With that, she did what she warned and tried her best to get away by pushing her feet towards him. Charles grabbed her legs and dragged her closer, resting her legs on his lap and surrounding her with his arms.

She laughed and placed her hands around his neck, pulling him in for one of those strong, sweet, romantic kisses that she loved the most, those that they couldn't stop for what seemed hours.

"It doesn't get better than this, does it?" After a while, she pulled away and ran her fingers through his hair, staring at his heavenly blue eyes.

"Well, miss, I'm afraid it doesn't" He had his right arm around her, making sure she wouldn't fall, and his left hand was rubbing her thigh. As much as he tried he couldn't take his sight away from her eyes. She was his treasure, his everything.

"How different things were a year ago" She left his eyes for a second and then took her sight back to him. "And the hell of a year we've been through"

"We're here now, Hill. That's all that matters"

"Still, it's kind of overwhelming. Not that I don't love being here with you Charles, you know I wouldn't change this for the world. It's just… crazy"

Charles smiled and threw a piece of her hair behind her ear, then proceeded to take the previous position they had. This time he wrapped her with both of his arms as she laid her head on his chest. It was a beautiful habit by now. To spend their early nights curled up talking or just feeling each other was probably the thing they loved the most about being married. Those kinds of moments were something Charles didn't take for granted.

"It was a hell of a ride, huh?" Hillary nodded. "When the year started I never thought I'd end it being this way with you"

"I still can't understand how we managed to wait so long"

"Well, we were scared for some obvious reasons Hill"

"Yeah" She whispered quietly. The clock marked half after midnight. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the sound the logs burning. Charles was playing with her hair, tangling some strands in his fingers and thinking she must have fallen asleep. He remembered how he started to notice some of her quirks, like always having to fix her curly hair perfectly or how childish she always got when she saw a dog on the street. He looked back on how amused he felt when Hillary showed him she could keep a spoon immobile on her nose; he really loved to know things about her that nobody else knew. He was about to move to take her to bed when he heard her taking a deep breath and felt how she raised her head.

"So, for Christmas," She said between yawns. "What you wanna do?"

He laughed and kissed her cheek. As it was pointed out before, he loved the sleepy, not-in-her-full-five-senses Hillary. He stood up and handed her a hand to do the same.

"Its pass your bedtime, babe" She took her arm around his waist and leaned in him, smiling. Charles grinned and walked her across the living room, kissing the top of her head multiple times, catching the smell of her shampoo.

"But we have to make plans, I want it to be special" She stopped halfway of the stairs and faced him, getting on her tiptoes to reach his height.

"Tomorrow" She made a face before kissing him softly on the lips. A log crackling loud from the fireplace reminded him he still had to turn it off. In fact, he still had to turn off the lights, check the doors were locked and take the milk carton back to the fridge. "I'll meet you in a second".

Hillary smiled and walked upstairs. Charles did what the perfect, married man in the movies did every night before slipping into bed with his lovely wife. For some reason, he would always get that picture in his mind while he did these things. He made sure to turn off every log in the fireplace and then proceed to close the doors and windows and turn off the lights. Upstairs, the lights in the bedroom were still on and the sound of the TV was making its way to the hall and the stairs. He frowned before the thought hit him, for some reason Hillary found a certain entertainment in watching the mid night infomercials, one more random thing to love about her.

He walked in hoping to see her in bed with her leg crossed and about to make a funny comment about whatever the commercial was promoting. Instead, he found her made a mess between the bedcover and the blankets completely asleep. She looked like a little girl who fell asleep in the car and her parents had to carry her to the bed, she looked adorable. Charles chuckled as he turned off the lights and the TV. He tucked into bed and Hillary turned his way, "I wasn't sleeping" she barely murmured. Charles kissed her forehead in approval and placed his arm across her neck, pulling her closer to him. There they were after another night of routine, a routine that neither of them minded having. There they were after another day together, in the wait for one more. He started to think about the first night they slept together when Hillary moved in but he fell asleep immediately. The next day would be like one more page of the book they were writing, an empty sheet ready to be filled with more and more memories to look back one day.


End file.
